Easy Budget Meals: Seven Days Of Excellent Inexpensive Recipes
This week, for the first time, I asked my blog audience what they wanted me to write about. I’ve always been a bit skeptical of doing this, I have to admit. After all, it’s my blog. I write about things that I love, things that make me happy and things that I know both my audience and I enjoy. After five years of writing (almost) every week, I still get a thrill every time I press Publish on my platform on a Saturday night. However, over the last six months, it’s been a bit weird. Although I know that my audience are all ages, of all life experiences and from all places, it’s patently obvious at the moment that everyone is going through different things. Priorities have changed, people are experiencing situations that they never thought they would be in, our focus is on different areas and writing about cushions and paint colours seemed a bit, well, wrong, when there’s seemingly endless stress and trauma across the country. Last week I wrote about budget High Street buys (excellent ones, btw - click here to read) but I quizzed myself for days as to whether or not I was reading the room right. Trying to think of subjects that are both mind distracting, upbeat but empathetic to the current situation is proving to be a quandary. Anyway, this week I threw caution to the wind and in the words of Jeremy Clarkson, asked the audience.
And I got an EXCELLENT response. Lockdown friends, you won’t be surprised to know that TV and food rated high on the list. Aside from my friends Sharon and Marie who have decided to - gasp - be boxset free this third lockdown and read only books in the evening (I know, right?), I don’t know a single person whose evenings are not solely committed to the joys of the big black rectangle accompanied by a bowl of Walkers Sensations and a glass of cold Sauvignon. It’s the little things. I receive daily messages from people with suggestions for the latest drama series, film recommendations or explanations of how to subscribe for seven days free and then cancel in order to watch the newest boxset on some random channel. By far the most popular DM’s come from followers expressing their abject dismay at finishing Schitts Creek. Who knew that the Rose family would be such a joy bringer to lockdown? I’m sure they didn't. But one thing was abundantly clear - the overarching suggestions were based around budget which clarified that during these times of madness, we don’t want to be reading about anything that breaks the bank balance. End of.
Standard Dawson child tea. Birdseye Chicken Quarter Pounders, Asda potato criss cross and token mini cucumber and pepper. No knife required in preparation of this meal whatsoever.
It was a reply from a follower who told me that they had lost three quarters of their monthly income due to Covid that made me decide what to write about this week. She was looking for budget recipe ideas for a family and this, people, falls into my favourite category box. With all of us at home, making dinner every night has now become inescapable. Prior to lockdown, I’d spend three to four nights a week ferrying my kids to football (an activity that doesn’t even get close to the favourite category box) which meant that dinners were often toasted sandwiches or ‘cold tea’, an elaborate description for a French stick served with thin square ham, some grated cheese and a nominal three slices of cucumber. Now, all five of us are at home all day and dinner signifies the end of the day, a celebration almost. I’ve been making ACTUAL meals (for Joe, Ella and I anyway - Max and Leo would happily survive on Birdseye Chicken Quarter Pounders and will only join if we are eating fajitas) and it’s actually been strangely therapeutic. I’ve rediscovered meals that I haven’t made for ages, always making more than we need and either freezing or eating the next day for lunch. I’m not spending half as much as I used to (apart from Saturday nights when I am prone to buying large quantities of three for two tapas and boxes of chocolates) and the fridge vegetable drawers deplete as fast as the crisp cupboard (yes, we have a crisp cupboard. If you don’t have a crisp cupboard, are you even in lockdown?).
So this week, I’ve listed a weeks worth of excellent recipes that are not only delicious, but which are also budget friendly. I’ve picked a variety of meat, fish and vegetarian recipes which could be adapted to suit whatever your palate. The other day I showed my mini blender on stories to much acclaim - it’s an essential addition I feel to any kitchen and they can be picked up cheaply on Amazon - I’ll link one here. You’ll note these recipes also contain dried herbs and spices, the economical saviour of the budget meal. Again, I’d suggest buying these as store cupboard staples, although before you add, make sure you don’t already have them. I am a nightmare for following a recipe and picking up a jar of cumin in the supermarket without checking my cupboard and as a result, have been known to have six lined up next to each other. I’ve also linked the books and authors for your info - you can pick nearly all of these up second hand on Amazon from independent booksellers (some for as little as 80p) and it’s worth the investment. But most of all, these recipes are EASY. Aka not difficult, long winded, tricky or complicated. They don’t contain any ingredients that can’t be found in your local supermarket and the majority of them can be frozen and kept for another day. I hope they are helpful and thanks so much to everyone who responded to my subject question plea this week. PS: If I were to recommend my favourite dish to try out below, I’d go for the curry. Truly, it’s delish.
MONDAY
I bought Cupboard Love by Tom Norrington Davies many years ago from one of those Book People deliveries that used to come to your office and leave books. Remember them? The ones where you could get the entire Mr Men box set ensemble for £1.50 rather than £500. They were always super cheap and I could never resist anything that was either cooking or lifestylie, even though I had absolutely no need for any of them. This book - originally published in 2005 - does what it says on the tin; it’s full of cupboard staple recipes and I’m always able to find something to make from it, even when I haven’t been to the supermarket and think I’ve got nothing in. I used it so much over the years that I destroyed it and it fell apart, but luckily I found a second hand version on Amazon recently for £1.25. Not even a joke. I’ll link here in case you want to check if there are any more. This recipe has it’s base in the book (Tuna, Bean, Lemon & Oregano Salad page 88) but over the years I’ve added to it so it’s a little bit different from the original. This serves four as a main meal but I always double it and keep it in the fridge. You can boost it with any potatoes that you have in the fridge, small boiled ones work nicely with the dressing. Caversham readers will recognise this as my standard BBQ side dish contribution between the years of 2007 and 2012. Ha. PS: the food styling in this book is also massively aesthetically pleasing. Yes, I’m shallow.
METHOD
Boil or steam the green beans until they still have a bit of bite to them. Drain and put aside. Drain the tinned beans and mix in a bowl with the tuna, red onion, tomatoes and capers - add to the green beans. Make the dressing by pounding the anchovies with the chilli and garlic (I use a mini blender) then add the lemon juice, herbs and oil and whisk. Add the dressing to the salad and mix well. Crumble the feta and nuts over the top and lightly toss. Finito.
Tuna, Green Bean & Feta Salad
A good handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
A tin of tuna, drained and broken up with a fork
400g tin of beans - borlotti are good but any work
1 packet of green beans, trimmed
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of jarred capers
3-4 tinned anchovy fillets
Half a packet of feta cheese
A handful of chopped nuts - pine nuts, walnuts, whatever you have)
A teaspoon of dried crushed chilli (or to taste)
2 chopped garlic cloves
Zest of a lemon and the juice of it all (or substitute with two tablespoons of bottled)
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
100ml olive oil
Fresh herbs to garnish
TUESDAY
This recipe is from one of my absolute favourite all time cook books, Sophie Conran Soups & Stews. Like Cupboard Love, it can still be found second hand and when I looked today, there were 20 available for £1 upwards. INVEST PEOPLE! I’ve made almost every recipe from it and it’s my absolute go to. I listed one of my other favourite recipes from this book, Mexican Lamb, in my One Pot Meals blog a few years ago - click here to see. This recipe is brilliant as it’s got loads of vegetables in (stopping mine from going mouldy at the bottom of the fridge which is always a bonus) plus it feeds 10 people and as a result, you can decant the remains into Tupperware for multiple extra meals in the freezer. I usually serve it with mashed potatoes or just a French stick.
METHOD
Heat olive oil in a pan and fry the chicken breasts until they are lightly brown on both sides (they should still be pink in the middle). Put them aside on a plate. Fry the chorizo in the pot until it begins to crisp. Dump in the carrots, onions, celery, garlic, thyme and butter and stew for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Once the vegetables are nice and soft, stir in the pasta, tomatoes and beans and leave to bubble for an hour, stirring from time to time. Cut the chicken into nice big chunks (about 5cm square) and throw into the pot. Cook for another 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, then stir through the flat leaf parsley, season and serve.
Chicken, Chorizo & Butterbean Stew
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (seasoned)
1 Spanish chorizo, skinned and sliced
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 onions, peeled and chopped
2 celery sticks, clean and sliced
7 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon of fresh or dried thyme
50g butter
500g jar of tomato passata
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomato
2 x 400g tins of butter beans, drained
A handful of chopped flat leaf parsley
Seasoning to taste
WEDNESDAY
One of the reasons that I love this recipe is that it doesn’t involve peeling a butternut squash. Truly, is there any worse job? I think not. Cutting up a butternut squash at the best of times is a life threatening job - most of the time, only a massive knife will do the job and one wrong move and you’ll be off to A&E. Anyway, I’ve served this recipe countless times to my vegetarian family and friends and it’s always a winner - roasted squash mixed with spice is unbeatable. It’s from the book Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi - I’ve got a few of his books and I have never made anything from them that hasn’t tasted delish. This is a super quick meal for during the week that is filling and tasty. You’ll need Sriracha chilli sauce but don’t panic - Tesco do an own brand of it and it’s in all the major supermarkets. If you don’t have it, any chilli sauce would work in its place. There’s not many ingredients in this dish but it is SO GOOD.
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Cut the squash in half (watch your fingers) and remove all the seeds, then cut into 2cm thick wedges about 7cm long. Leave the skin on. Place in a bowl with the cinnamon, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper. Mix well and then place on two baking trays, skin side down, and roast for 35-40 minutes until soft. Remove and set aside. Reduce the oven to 180 degrees and lay the pumpkin seeds on a baking tray - roast for 8 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. Into your mini blender, place the coriander, garlic, the remaining four tablespoons of olive oil and a good pinch of salt and blitz to make a paste. Mix together the yoghurt and Sriracha sauce. Lay the squash wedges on a platter, drizzle over the spicy yoghurt and then the drizzle the herb paste. Scatter the roasted pumpkin seeds and the extra coriander and serve with bread. Yum.
SQUASH WITH CHILLI YOGHURT & CORIANDER SAUCE
1 large butternut squash
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
90ml olive oil
50g fresh coriander (plus a bit extra for garnish)
1 crushed garlic clove
20g pumpkin seeds
200g Greek yoghurt
1.5 teaspoon of Sriracha
THURSDAY
Another one of my all time favourite books is Leon: Naturally Fast Food Book 2. In fact, when I checked on Amazon it told me I’d bought this book four times since its release in 2010, as gifts for family and friends. I’ve just reordered a second hand copy due to the fact that my current copy has actually lost it’s hardback cover and is flopping around without one on the bookshelf. Shocking. Anyway, there are plenty of fabulous recipes in this book - including pages of themed party food which were my absolute go to for dinner parties back when my kids were small - and this one I’m going to list now is a regular on our dinner table, mostly because it takes a basic roast chicken and elevates it with just a few ingredients without ANY EFFORT AT ALL. Truly, it’s five minutes prep, stick it in the oven and you’re done. Winning. PS: I always add chunks of potato to this and if I’ve got chorizo, then I add that too. You can also add extra veg you’ve got in the fridge, just make sure you don’t add too much that you can’t put the lid on!
METHOD
Heat the oven to 190 degrees. Put all the vegetables in the bottom of a large casserole dish with the fennel seeds, one tablespoon of olive oil and one teaspoon of the paprika. Season and stir well. Rub the remaining oil and paprika into the chicken along with some salt and pepper. Place the chicken on top of the vegetables and pour in the vinegar and white wine. Put the lid on and put in the oven for one hour. Take the lid off and cook for another 30 minutes to an hour to brown the chicken, ensuring it’s cooked through.
Spanish Pot Roast
3 onions, peeled and quartered
3 carrots, cut into long batons
1 whole bulb of garlic, sliced in half
4 tomatoes, quartered
3 teaspoons of fennel seeds
2 heaped teaspoons of smoked sweet paprika
1 whole chicken - 1.5g - 2kg in weight
2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar
250ml white wine
Seasoning to taste
FRIDAY
If ever I am at a loss for something to make for dinner and I have beef or mince in the freezer, I will always make a chilli. Most of the time I completely make up the recipe by adding vegetables, chilli and tomatoes to the mince with a beef stock cube, then serve it with wraps and sour cream because I am 100 percent inherently lazy. Also, I’m not a great fan of rice. When I DO think about it in advance and have a few hours before dinner, I always make it with chunks of stewing steak or whatever cut there is in the supermarket. Slow cooking it makes the biggest difference. this recipe below is a slightly bastardised recipe belonging to Thomasina Miers and comes from her first cookbook after she won Masterchef, Mexican Food Made Simple. It’s only bastardised because I use beef chunks instead of a big piece and also know that some of the ingredients - such as chiles de arbol and ancho chillies - cannot be bought in my local Asda but if you’ve got them then excellent work (replace the chilli flakes with two of each). Again, this serves up to eight people so make it and freeze for future use. Serve with rice, wraps, on top of a potato, WHATEVS. Also, you will note that many of my recommended recipes have chorizo in them as I truly love it. If you are chorizo’d out, then I’m sure this recipe will also taste good without.
METHOD
Preheat the oven to a low 120 degrees. Put the onions and garlic in to a mini blender and pulse until finely chopped. Heat olive oil in a large casserole and sear the meat on all sides until golden. Set aside, then add a bit more olive oil and brown the chorizo. Again, set aside. Add the chopped onions, garlic, spices, herbs and chilli flakes and cook until soft in the chorizo oil. Season with salt and pepper, then add the vinegar, tomatoes, ketchup and sugar. Add the meat back in and add 400ml of water (you can use red wine if you prefer here). Bring it up to a simmer and then cook, covered, in the oven. After two hours, add the beans. Cook for another hour. Done.
speedy CHILE CON CARNE
1kg beef - stewing steak, any cut really
3 onions
4 cloves of garlic
300g spicy cooking chorizo cut into chunks
2 teaspoons of ground cumin and allspice
1 teaspoon cloves
1 large cinnamon stick
3 bay leaves
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
3 tablespoons of cider or balsamic vinegar
2 x 400g chopped tomatoes
2 x tablespoons tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 x 400g tins of borlotti beans
SATURDAY
I’ve made this curry so often that the pages have stuck together. Again, it’s a book I’ve had for years (possibly even from the Book People office delivery days) and it’s called Curry compiled by Vivek Singh, pulling together loads of different curry recipes from all over the world. Forget a takeaway - once you’ve made this beauty, nothing will taste as good. I’ve made it for just Joe and I and also for a crowd - it freezes perfectly and it’s although it’s made entirely from scratch, it’s still a straight forward recipe and takes no time at all. The caption in the book says that in the fifties and sixties, if you were invited to dinner and served this curry, it would show that your hosts had spared no expense or effort in your honour. I always like to tell my friends that when I make it for them, ha. Also, don’t be put off by the amount of spices and pots of paste here - they’re basics and available in all supermarkets as own brand. Once you have bought them all, they’re there in your store cupboard so it’s easy to make again and again without loads of outlay. This serves four so double or triple as you like.
Method
Fry the onions in olive or sunflower oil (in a casserole dish or pan that has a lid) until golden brown. Allow to cool, the put in a mini blender and whizz until they are finely ground. Put aside. Add the ginger and garlic pastes to the same oil that you fried the onions in and stir for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and stir well, then stir in the yoghurt. Cook for 5 minutes. Then add the onion paste from your mini blender and stir. Finally, add all of the spices (I usually measure them all out and mix in a small bowl before I start so I’m ready to go), the bay leaf and some salt and cook on a low heat, stirring, for about five minutes. Put the diced chicken breasts into the pan and spoon the spice mixture over them. Add 500ml of water. Put the lid on and cook on a low heat, stirring every now and then, for about 40-50 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Add more water if you need to. Remove the lid and cook for a further ten minutes, then take off the heat and stir in the fresh coriander, reserving a couple of tablespoons for garnish. Serve with naan or rice.
Desi Murgh Curry
6 chicken breasts, diced
2 large onions, sliced
2 teaspoons of garlic paste
2 teaspoons of ginger paste
400g tin chopped tomatoes
50g plain Greek yoghurt
1.5 teaspoon of chilli powder
1 teaspoon of ground tumeric
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
2 teaspoon of ground coriander
3 cardamon pods
6 cloves (or use half teaspoon of ground)
1 bay leaf
Small bunch of chopped fresh coriander
SUNDAY
I made this Vegetarian Shepherds Pie for my vegetarian friend Emma when my other friend, Marie, hosted a huge Danish Christmas lunch, a deliciously meat heavy affair but not really an eating occasion made for vegetarians. It’s a BBC Good Food recipe that I’d googled and chose it basically because it looked easy, the main focus of nearly all my cooking plans. There are lots of vegetarian Shepherds Pie recipes around but this one has very few ingredients thus making it both budget friendly and time easy, enabling you to do other many other things instead, such as watching Netflix or lying on the sofa. It was also a great success at the Danish lunch, although in my opinion it couldn’t compete with medisterpolse and chopped kale. This serves four people but it’s easy to double or even triple if you want to cook and freeze.
METHOD
Heat the oven to 190 degrees. Fry the sliced onion in olive oil until golden, then add the carrots and half of the thyme. Pour in the red wine, 150ml of water and the chopped tomatoes, then crumble in the vegetable stock cubes. Simmer for ten minutes. Tip in the green lentils (including the juice) then cover and simmer for another ten minutes until the lentils are pulpy and the carrots still have a bit of bite to them. Whilst simmering, boil the sweet potatoes for 15 minutes, drain, then mash with the butter and season to taste. Pile the lentil mixture into a dish, add the mash and sprinkle over the cheddar and the remaining thyme. Cook for 20 minutes until hot all the way through and serve with vegetables.
Vegetarian Shepherds Pie With Sweet Potato Mash
1 onion, halved and sliced
2 large carrots cut into sugar cubed sized pieces
2 tbsp fresh thyme (or 1 tbsp dried)
200ml red wine
400g can of chopped tomatoes
2 vegetable stock cubes
410g can of green lentils
950g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
25g butter
85g vegetarian cheddar cheese